"If you missed Senator Holy Joe on CNN yesterday, you missed an amazing interview. John Amato has the vid here and it's a doozy.
Basically, Joe says that Democrats who will turn out for the primary are unrepresentative riff-raff who shouldn't be allowed to decide who the nominee for the Democratic party should be. (Unless, of course, it's him.) He apparently thinks that the "important" voters might not come out in August so it's entirely possible that the person who is chosen could be the wrong sort, chosen by people who really shouldn't be doing the choosing, if you know what I mean."
* kristof:
"When I was covering the war in Iraq, we reporters would sometimes tune to Fox News and watch, mystified, as it purported to describe how Iraqis loved Americans. Such coverage (backed by delusional Journal editorials baffling to anyone who was actually in Iraq) misled conservatives about Iraq from the beginning. In retrospect, the real victims of Fox News weren't the liberals it attacked but the conservatives who believed it."* kleiman:
"Lederman's (Hamdan) analysis suggests that the decision renders unnecessary my repeated suggestions that the entire group of torture-orderers and torture-order-enablers from Bush on down be shipped off to the Hague. If Geneva Common Article 3 is indeed incorporated into our domestic law, then the President and his cronies have conspired to commit war crimes as defined by the United States Code (18 U.S.C. 2441) statute, and could be tried right here at home and sentenced to life imprisonment or death, depending on whether it can be shown that one or more of their victims died."* a little while back, someone in the comments (Don?) pointed to this Rolling Stone interview with Al Gore. I meant to post it but forgot. (there's also a game that you can play and save the world here):
gore: " I believe there is a hunger in the country to be part of a larger vision that changes the way we relate to the environment and the economy. Right now we are borrowing huge amounts of money from China to buy huge amounts of oil from the most unstable region of the world, and to bring it here and burn it in ways that destroy the habitability of the planet. That is nuts! We have to change every aspect of that.there's more, go read. that last statement is very interesting, no? He is basically saying that they LIHOP'd (!) NOLA's destruction so that Halliburton and others could make some reconstruction bucks. And the same for Iraq - a financial interest. I wonder if he's referring to the oil companies, or the defense companies, or the construction companies in particular.
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But Bush is insulated -- his staff smiles a lot and only gives him the news that he wants to hear. Unfortunately, they still have this delusion that they create their own reality... And when leaders persist in that error, sooner or later they have a collision with reality, often on a battlefield.
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Unfortunately, they've (bush/cheney) got two and a half years left. Two and a half days is too much, in my opinion. I must confess I'm beginning to lose my objectivity with Bush and Cheney. I regret that, but I must be candid with you [laughs].
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But here's my point: What they've done with Iraq, what they did with Katrina, is exactly the approach they're taking to global warming. They're ignoring reality, they're twisting and cherry-picking the evidence to create false impressions that serve the interests of a small, powerful group that has a financial interest in the outcome."
Amazing.
(updated for clarity: It's 'Amazing' that Gore actually said it)
6 comments:
That's why Dopey was glad Brownie was taking the heat for him.
On Iraq too. through a representative of the Egyptian Gov't, Saddam Hussein offered to give the US 2 billion bucks, if we would let him and his two sons leave Iraq.
We've let all kinds of scoundrels go into exile. We could have walked in there withouta drop of blood and used the $2 billion to help them really set up a democracy. Sure.
General Janice Karpinski said that the invasion was realtively easy, there was no resisitance, until Dopey released the pictures of Saddams two sons dead, then the insurgency began. Place had to blown up to be rebuilt.
Blood money.
Luke:
there's more, go read. that last statement is very interesting, no? He is basically saying that they LIHOP'd (!) NOLA's destruction so that Halliburton and others could make some reconstruction bucks. And the same for Iraq - a financial interest. I wonder if he's referring to the oil companies, or the defense companies, or the construction companies in particular.
Amazing.
(updated for clarity: It's 'Amazing' that Gore actually said it)
When I first pointed to that interview, I asked if he's getting louder? It's like the quote from the New Yorker interview:
Does he [Gore], like many Democrats, think the election was stolen?
Gore pauses a long time and stares into the middle distance. “There may come a time when I speak on that,” Gore says, “but it’s not now; I need more time to frame it carefully if I do.” Gore sighs. “In our system, there’s no intermediate step between a definitive Supreme Court decision and violent revolution.”
Talk about an an astonishing statement.
For visibility, he's been on Stewart and Olbermann, not to mention the SNL piece. He's on hundreds of movie screens across America and has probably given more in-depth interviews in the last 4 months than all the time as VP.
The man is at the heart of a lot of noise and pulling no punches whatsoever. That the RepubliCorp machines have started seriously spending to counteract him speaks volumes.
It's been noted that if he were to declare, the venom would really start. I'm wondering if he's drawing it out to demonstrate a consistent stability in the storm, an unshakeablility of genuine character that neither he nor (in '04) Kerry got the chance to show. IOW, what a candidate can be without handlers.
Last note from Pg 3 of the RS interview:
RS: Do you still consider yourself a Democrat?
AG: Oh, yeah... I will continue to play a role as a citizen, not only on global warming but also on eavesdropping and torture and civil liberties and the other vital issues of the day. I've got a full plate right now. Being a candidate for president again is not part of my plan for the next several years.
So, planned run in "the several years" or just nothing planned beyond the "next several years"?
Betcha, if asked, he still wouldn't make a Shermanesque statement.
they still have this delusion that they create their own reality..
yep, and Democrats help them by not doing shit, not making a real effort to stand in the way, at least.
don - you are right to point to that other quote of gores - if i remember rightly, i've quoted it before (perhaps at your behest?)
i bet you a million bux that i said it before he did - but you are absolutely right - it's an astonishing thing for someone of his stature to say
the only thing that he left unsaid is that the 'violent revolution' was just a binary option in 2000 - that choice is still valid. and ive been 'advocating' it ever since. even in 2003 i thought that might be the only way to save us - and i still think that probably true. i wish it happened then - cos it'll be messier now.
don - you are right to point to that other quote of gores - if i remember rightly, i've quoted it before (perhaps at your behest?)
It did come up once before here, with particular attention to that quote.
i bet you a million bux that i said it before he did...
Talk about a sucker bet ;)
If I had that thought cross my mind a few times before reading that interview, and I've only been into US/World politics for about 6-8 months, I be surprised if you hadn't.
- but you are absolutely right - it's an astonishing thing for someone of his stature to say
And from the way the quote is printed, he knows exactly what he's saying and still trying to find a better way. There may not be one, and I don't doubt he has the strength of character to do what must be done, but he's still trying. Put G-dub or any of the pack of thugs in his shoes, and the rednecks would've been at the gates of 1600 Penn Ave long ago.
A warrior is skilled at war but knows its cost; will do what must be done but makes war only as a last resort, never seeking it out. War is not a tool of statecraft & diplomacy, it is the absolute failure of it.
No one in the Bush administration now knows this, or cares. They pay war's costs only in others' blood. They are not warriors. For that reason, above all others, they must go.
they must go, indeed.
the only question is how much damage they do to the place on the way out. i cant imagine them facing any of their crimes - which means they need to hold on for as long as possible, and perhaps take the cyanide option at the last moment.
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